Hydrogen is a clean-reacting, energy-dense fuel that has the potential for widespread, nonpolluting use in a hydrogen-based economy. For example, hydrogen could be reacted in a fuel cell to power vehicles or provide space heating, without generating any carbon-based pollutants. Hydrogen may be burned in a gas turbine to provide electricity on a grid. Hydrogen is also widely used in industrial processing.
There are a number of approaches to producing hydrogen. Examples include steam methane reforming, electrolysis, partial oxidation, and dissociation reactions. Steam methane reforming is used in many instances because its inputs are methane, which is readily available in natural gas, and water. The methane and water are reacted at elevated temperature to produce hydrogen gas. The steam methane reaction is highly endothermic, so that substantial amounts of energy must be supplied to the chemical reaction. This energy is normally supplied by burning a portion of the available methane. This burning to produce heat consumes a substantial portion of the available methane and potentially produces pollutants. Other techniques also utilize the burning of a hydrocarbon fossil fuel with similar results.
There is a need for an improved approach to the production of hydrogen gas from hydrocarbon sources. Such an improved approach would desirably avoid the consumption of fossil fuels for heating, while achieving a high thermodynamic and chemical efficiency of hydrogen production from the available resources. The present invention fulfills this need, and further provides related advantages.